Microcanthinae

The Microcanthinae, commonly known as footballers, mados, stripeys, and moonlighters, are a subfamily of the sea chubs, a family of marine fish in the order Perciformes. The Microcanthinae are distributed across a fairly small range in the south west Indian Ocean and the eastern Pacific, with most species concentrated around Australia and New Zealand. They inhabit a variety of continental shelf environments, from inshore rocky coastlines to deep offshore reefs. They commonly exhibit a striped body colouring, and individual species may look quite similar. The subfamily was defined by Johnson in 1984 and contains four genera. All of the species are generally too small to be useful as a food fish, but are often used in marine aquaria.